Seeing Her
by Harryfan626
Summary: It had started out for him innocently enough, if he turned his head to fast he would swear he saw a flash of blonde or after he would say a ridiculous joke to Amy and Rory and they rolled their eyes there would be the musical sound of her laughter...


**Disclaimer: I am neither RTD nor Moffat. I own neither Doctor Who nor the characters of said show.**

Seeing Her

It had started out for him innocently enough, if he turned his head to fast he would swear he saw a flash of blonde or after he would say a ridiculous joke to Amy and Rory and they rolled their eyes there would be the musical sound of her laughter. It was around a week between each instance and the Doctor nearly blamed it on his own age and increased feeling of loneliness that even with the Ponds by his side did not go away. Coming up on two months of seeing these flashes, feeling her presence, and seeing ghosts out of the corner of his eye was when the sightings increased.

Having once been only seconds and the glimpse so slight that he could brush it off this differed greatly. Nearly every turn of his head revealed her sitting in the shadows, walking beside him or basking in the sunlight. Every blink brought one second of peace from this constant agony that followed him around, the woman he loved just out of reach. But as his eyes would open there she would be again, the hazel eyes of Rose Tyler greeting him. As he would open his mouth to say something to her, tell her she could not possibly be real and this was all just his mind playing tricks, she would start walking away quickly or vanish into thin air. It was as if she did not want to be told she did not exist, if the words were left unsaid she would stay but as soon as she was proved unreal she would disappear completely. The Doctor could not decide whether he would rather her go away or stay walking through his life as the ghost she currently seemed like.

Amy noticed something was wrong sooner than the Doctor had expected to her. Obviously the girl confronted him, cornering him in the console room and threatening to steal all his bow ties unless he told her what was wrong. He made up a seemingly reasonable excuse; Amy was still suspicious but let it slide as the Doctor managed to slip out of the TARDIS console. She promised herself that she would attempt to get an answer out of the Doctor again. Before Amy had found the opportunity to confront the Doctor again they had found themselves in the middle of a horror story, trapped in an 80s styled hotel with nightmares behind every door.

Temporarily separated from the group of survivors stuck in the maze of doors the Doctor found himself in the middle of an intersection, four different ways he could take and he is stuck underneath a chandelier. He looks up desperately for a second before turning around a few times. Hands twitching the Doctor made one final pivot and began walking down a random hall. Just as he steps out of the intersection he hears a door slam. Spinning around once more he sees her, bouncing blond hair, black high heels, and tight lace dress so not the Rose he knew but still so very her. She is quickly walking away from him and she is about to turn a corner most likely to disappear again when the Doctor makes his decision. Limbs waving by his side and his balance off by the speed he took of at the Doctor starts racing down the hallway following her.

Skidding on the carpet the Doctor chases her around the corner and to his shock she is still there. Running once more the Doctor gains on her when she swings a door open and struts in. Pausing for a second the Doctor knows what he has to do. Cautiously the Doctor follows her into Room 11.

Lying on the awful duvet, her legs kicked up and hair brushed out of her face is Rose Tyler. She smiles at him, eyes blowing and urging him forward. He moves to take a step forward when he pulls back and lets their eyes finally meet. After months of chasing her he has finally caught up.

"Rose Tyler, as persistent as ever."

His hearts skip a beat as she replies, "Sorry it took me so long, been busy, yeah?" He had not expected her to reply, he had not expected her to stay once his mouth opened.

"Rose?" He asked, whispered, breathed. Electricity seemed to ripple through the air as he waited for her answer.

As she opened her mouth to respond she began to fade away like she always did, "Doctor." She managed to call, whisper, breathe, before she disappeared.

The Doctor fell to his knees as a stray tear rolled down his cheek. Maybe she was real, maybe she was not, the Doctor did not know. All he knew was that everywhere he turned he kept seeing her but not really truly hearing her or communicating. Then she spoke and then he spoke and then she was gone. Standing up the Doctor straightened his bow tie and his jacket before walking out of his door and sliding on a do no disturb notice.

"Of course...who else?" The Doctor asked, whispered, breathed. Turning away the Doctor promised himself once he got the Ponds safely out of the hell of a hotel he would find Rose. He had to, she's drifting in and out of his life like a ghost and even if he can not stay with her once he saves her, which he will, at least Rose would be safe. That is what always mattered to him. Even if he found out she was just a figment of his imagination caused by his old age at least he would no longer be haunted by her. But, maybe he would rather be seeing Rose Tyler everywhere, she was Rose Tyler, even if she was just an image.

He had to find her the Doctor concluded, he had to know her opinion on bow ties. Smiling slightly he ran away from his closed door to find his companions.

That is the Doctor, always running away. Always running, even...especially from her...especially now.

Some day he would have to stop though.

Maybe she would be why.

Again.


End file.
